Nuns runs at London’s Tristan Bates Theatre from 15 to 26 January 2019

Sisters really are doing it for themselves on this production! I’ll talk to the all-female company behind this brand-new staging of Robert Luxford’s deliciously irreverent Nuns…

Set in a convent,Nuns is a satire that tells the story of three rebel sisters who plot to overthrow the Mother Superior in order to establish smoking rights for themselves.

The youngest, Sister Bernadette, is being seduced into the cause by Sister Catherine and Sister Rozza during one of their secret smoking sessions. They have a secret that they believe will bring the Mother Superior to her knees.

Dutch Dame’s gritty and witty take on Robert Luxford’s Nunsdraws you into a world of questioning patriarchal traditions and whether there is room for change in a systematically oppressive world. How far is too far? These sisters are willing to find out.

In the cast, Natalya Wolter-Ferguson is Sister Catherine, Cecile Sinclair is Sister Bernadette, Rebecca Wilson is Sister Rozz and Gillian Broderick is Mother Superior. Nuns is directed by Charlotte Everest, designed by Tara Usher and produced by Valerie Isaiah Sadoh, with Sinclair and Wolter-Ferguson as executive producers.

After the 7.30pm performance on Friday 18 January 2019 at London’s Tristan Bates Theatre, I’ll chair a post-show Q&A with the cast and creative team.

Half Me, Half You runs at London’s Tristan Bates Theatre from 26 March to 6 April 2019

Anyone who follows me on Twitter (and particularly my @TerriOnPolitics account) will know just how concerned I am by the accelerating authoritarianism on display in my native United States. Playwright Liane Grant does follow me and so knew that the opportunity to chair a post-show discussion on her new play would be one I couldn’t turn down…

What if you were black, gay and a woman in America right now?

In Half Me, Half You, Jess and Meredith are a married, interracial, gay couple living in New York in 2017 – the era of Trump – weathering a new wave of intolerance, discrimination and oppression, which is sweeping the nation and seeping into their home.

16 years later, Maya, a biracial British teen is forced into American life, braving the aftermath of a second civil war, and changing Meredith’s life irrevocably.

Returning after its highly praised 2018 run in New York and London, in her remarkable writing debut, Liane Grant’s Half Me, Half You confronts the reality of the current global climate and explores the consequences for future generations, while reminding us that we are all simply people searching for love and acceptance.

After the 6pm performance of Half Me, Half You on Monday 1 April 2019, I’ll be joined by Liane Grant and special guests to discuss issues explored in the play. How are they manifesting in society, nationally and internationally? How is the arts industry addressing them? What can we practically do as individuals to resist?